At its 2024 Investor Day, Qualcomm discussed the significant opportunities for growth and diversification. The PC market is expected to be a significant growth driver for Qualcomm in the years ahead. By 2029, Qualcomm expects that about 30-50% of PCs will be non-x86, and it will generate $4 billion in revenue from its PC chip business.
Cristiano Amon, President & CEO, Qualcomm Incorporated, said:
“Qualcomm’s focus on diversification and industry-leading technology roadmap has significantly strengthened the Company’s growth profile. As generative AI accelerates demand for our technology and we become increasingly relevant across multiple industries, Qualcomm is well positioned to address a $900 billion opportunity by 2030 across an expanding ecosystem of new customers and partners.”
During the presentation, Qualcomm also revealed some details from its future roadmap. In late 2023, Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon X Elite, its flagship processor for premium Windows PCs that generally cost around $1000. Later in April 2024, Qualcomm announced Snapdragon X Plus processors targeting mid-range Windows PCs, which would cost around $800.
Now, Qualcomm has revealed that it is planning to release a new Snapdragon X chip that will target entry-level Windows PCs, which would cost around $600. Overall, Qualcomm"s plan is to have a full lineup of chips targeting every segment in the PC market. By 2026, Qualcomm"s lineup will be able to address 70% of the Windows laptop market. As per their current projections, over 100+ laptops based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X lineup will be in the market by 2026.
To highlight the performance-per-watt leadership of Snapdragon, Qualcomm pointed out that even the latest x86 chips from Intel and AMD, which were released this year, failed to beat Snapdragon X Elite, which was announced back in 2023. Also, even by using TSMC"s latest 3nm process technology, Intel has failed to beat the Snapdragon X series in performance and power efficiency.
The upcoming 3rd gen Oryon CPU, which will power the Snapdragon X Elite Gen 2 chipset, is expected to deliver a generational leap in performance and efficiency. Qualcomm is expected to announce Snapdragon X Elite Gen 2 in 2025, and Windows PCs based on it will be shipping in the following months.
Qualcomm"s aggressive push into the PC market could pose a serious challenge to Intel and AMD.